SUNY Oneonta police gave parking fine recipients the opportunity to have those fines forgiven through food drive donations.
The drive ran from Dec. 1 to Dec. 12, and non-perishable items were collected at the university’s emergency services building.
Up to two tickets could be forgiven, and five items were required to be donated for the first parking ticket. For a second ticket, a student, faculty or staff member, or anybody else with a ticket, needed to bring in an additional 15 items. If somebody brought in 20 items total, they could get a maximum of two tickets waived. Tickets distributed to those who illegally parked in an accessible spot were not eligible for a waiver.
Donna Hurlburt, who works in the parking office, said Monday, Dec. 29 that 82 tickets were forgiven, and 63 people participated in the drive. While Hurlburt did not know the total amount of money forgiven, she said that a SUNY Oneonta parking ticket starts at $25 tickets, and it goes up every fifth ticket, at which point, the ticket would increase to $30.
Denise Natoli, an investigator with the university police, said Wednesday, Dec. 24 said there were some people who had accumulated several parking fines, and they were encouraged to participate to knock a few of the tickets down. She said she was unsure of the total number of pantry items collected.
Donations were distributed to the Red Dragon Food Pantry on campus and the Oneonta Veterans Outreach Center food pantry. Natoli said that after speaking with Michael Woytach, Oneonta VFW Post 1206 commander who recommended the outreach center, she decided it would be a good place to donate to as well.
“It’s not about money for tickets, it is about getting as much food as possible,” Natoli said. “Seeing the numbers, and how many people came in, and people coming on their own with no ticket responsibility and still donating, that was huge.”
While it was spearheaded by university police and the parking office, Natoli said the effort “really came from the SUNY Oneonta community.”
Natoli said she was inspired to run the event after seeing a university police at SUNY Cobleskill Facebook post promoting its own food drive for parking fine forgiveness in November. Those donations were given to the SUNY Cobleskill on-campus food pantry.
At SUNY Cobleskill, five canned goods could waive one ticket, and a maximum of two tickets could be waived with 10 items total. SUNY Cobleskill police said Friday, Dec. 26 that eight people participated in its drive, including seven students and one faculty member. Ten tickets total were waived, as two students brought in enough items to waive two tickets.
In total, $179.90 was forgiven in parking fines. University police said many students chose to donate more than the required five items. Mike Wacksman, the associate director of student leadership at SUNY Cobleskill, said a similar event was held a few years ago in the spring semester, and he intends to do another one in March.
One student at SUNY Oneonta came in with food to pay her ticket, but it had already been paid. Nonetheless, she was still able to donate the food. There were others, Natoli said, that donated even though they did not have parking fines.
“The whole point of this is not about the parking tickets,” Natoli said. “It is about getting food to people who need food and don’t necessarily have the means to pay their bills or get the food.”
Woytach brought the food to the outreach center Tuesday, Dec. 23. He said he thought the drive was a great idea and provided a good opportunity for students to get some “financial reprieve” while doing a service for the community.
“I just think it goes to speak for the time of season it is,” Woytach said Wednesday. “It’s a giving time of season. It goes to the level of thoughtfulness that the students have regarding community as a whole and trying to support the community at large.”